The Lidl Paddleboard is quite durable. However, in the past, there have been issues with product quality. Another issue is the round shape. Even though, the board might be physically intact, it still might not be used given the round shape which slows down the board significantly.
The Lidl SUP Paddle Board is one of the best-selling paddle boards in Europe and with the low-prices available affordable for almost everyone. This article will give an overview about some user reports on how durable the Lidl paddle board really is.
First, Lidl does a great job of getting more paddlers on the water. The pricing of the Lidl paddle is hard to beat, and their paddle board sets come with lots of included gear.
To promote the boards, Lidl partners with different SUP brands such as Mistral and F2 to put their branding on the boards. It is important to note, however, that those SUP brands do not manufacturer the board, but just provide their branding by allowing Lidl to put their logo onto the products.
However, some reviewers reported a build quality issue. These issues were mostly with glue coming off, minor quality stitching, as well as the included gear being subpar (some customers noted that the almost shipped paddle almost weighed one kilogram, which is way too much for middle or longer paddle tours).
Also, we aren’t huge fans of the Lidl paddleboard ourselves. That’s why, we’ve put together this Lidl paddleboard alternatives article.
Although Lidl itself does not provide an unbiased platform to post reviews (to our knowledge), we’ve found some at the German online store of Decathlon. The French manufacturer and seller of sports goods listed Lidl Paddleboards (for a higher price) in their online store, and the customer reviews were brutal.
Here is a screenshot of all the reviews:
(Taken from the online store Decathlon.de.)
We aren’t fans of the Lidl Paddleboard either. There are four reasons for this.
- Lidl sells models with no costumer reviews or longer-term testing done for. Basically, every year, Lidl sells another kind of paddle board.
This is a small red flag for us, as we always advise customers to buy a paddle board from a brand with at least some experience in this market. So that you can check out different reviews online as well as customer reviews. - The included paddle is way too heavy. Especially, for mid-range and longer paddle tours, using a lightweight paddle is important. The boards that Lidl sell come with an included paddle, which weights around one kilogram.
That is way too heavy for longer paddle tours. Since you’ll lift the paddle for thousands of times during a longer tour, a few hundred gram difference in the paddle weight will result in hundreds of kilograms you have to lift more or less.
Nowadays, most reputable SUP brands ship their boards with a paddle weighing anywhere from 650 to 900 gram. - The shape of the board is too round and only focussed on absolute beginners.
That’s an issue if the purchasers eventually move on and want to go on extended tours, as the extremely wide shape literally functions like a hand break when paddling and trying to build up speed. - Considering the quality of the Lidl Paddleboard, it is not cheap at all.
For a few extra bucks, there are way better options available that score higher in every regard of the buying decision.
To sum it up, there are quite some better Lidl paddleboard alternatives available. Especially, we do not recommend buying a second-hand Lidl paddleboard. We also took the Mistral Lidl board to the test and compared it with some other popular models.
On our blog, you can find comparisons of the Lidl Paddleboard vs. Decathlon SUPs, Lidl Paddleboard vs. Aqua Marina Fusion (another affordable board for beginners) and Lidl Paddleboard vs. Bluefin Cruise (a great choice for beginners and intermediates).
